Pertamina plans to expand into power business

State oil and gas company Pertamina plans to expand its business activities into power production as part of the company' program to become a fully integrated company within the next three and four years, Koran Tempo reported on Friday.

Pertamina's deputy director for marketing and trading Hanung Budya said Thursday that as part of the long-term plan, the company would open a number of power plants in order to increase the added value of small gas fields which are considered not economically viable for exploration.

"We are also interested in power production in order to increase the added value of the existing resources. The power will be sold to state utility PT PLN," he said in Bali. He added that Pertamina currently sells excess electricity produced at its refineries in Dumai(*)